New research on the formation of tornadoes shows that these funnel clouds may actually begin their life on the ground before spiraling up.
Groundbreaking new research on tornadoes suggests that these fierce storms may actually be created from the ground up, which has contradicted previous theories about their formation.
According to Phys.org, up until now scientists have generally agreed that tornadoes begin their life within storm clouds, forming funnels that gradually move downwards. This, after all, is what people who follow storms say that they witness when tornadoes touch down in fields, with storm chasers frequently documenting that they are able to see large funnel clouds — from above — spiraling down, until they eventually hit terra firma.
However, new research that looks at photographs and videos of tornadoes — combined with more cutting edge Doppler radar observations — has shown that what these storm chasers think they are witnessing may actually not be occurring at all. Tornadoes may really begin their life on the ground.
When tornado warnings are put into effect, advisories are given after radar observations detect storm clouds rotating in the air, directly above the ground. With this new research, those tornado warnings may now need to be drastically revised — at least, according to the scientists who were involved with the latest project.
Jana Houser, a meteorologist at Ohio University in Athens, will be explaining these new tornado observations at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting. She explained that, going forward into the future, tornado warnings should be changed to not be so dependent upon the possible prediction of tornadoes descending.
“We need to reconsider the paradigms that we have to explain tornado formation, and we especially need to communicate this to forecasters who are trying to make warnings and issue warnings. You are not going to really ever be finding strong evidence of a tornado descending, so we need to stop making that a priority in our forecasting strategies.”
Studies on tornadoes that took place in the 1970s originally suggested that tornadoes begin their life many kilometers away from the ground. As funnel clouds take in air from the ground below, this propels them downward, until they hit the ground. While the vast majority of meteorologists and scientists previously went along with this observation, new radar observations have led some to believe that this conclusion may be wrong.
One major tornado in particular made some scientists question the previously held ideas about the formation of tornadoes, after a huge storm rolled into Oklahoma on May 31, 2013. The El Reno tornado that occurred on this day was so massive that it broke previous tornado records, with winds that were gusting more than 300 mph.
Houser — and other scientists who were monitoring this tornado — noticed that photographs of the storm showed that there was a tornado already on the ground before radar had even detected it. After analyzing radar data, it was discovered that tornado rotation had first appeared on the ground before it had moved upward. Furthermore, once Houser examined data from other tornadoes, she also discovered that this was the case with these storms, too.
As Houser noted, “It emphasizes the fact that we need to have strong, low-level, basically near-ground level rotation, located in the right spot, at the right time, with respect to the larger parent storm circulations in order to form a tornado.”
An excerpt of the new research on how tornadoes may actually be formed at the ground level is available through the American Geophysical Union.
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